Day Six- 1/6/11 Epiphany Special! Oil and Stars

Day Six: 1/6/11
New Thing: Epiphany Special! Oil and Stars
Inspiration: The Feast of the Epiphany, Ken and Mo. Laura
Cost: $0
Time: All day
Bottom Line: It has been a graced filled day of welcoming the Christ Toddler in the chaos.

Reflection: Today is the Feast of the Epiphany! On this High Holy Day, we celebrate the manifestation of God in the form of Jesus. Typically, in the Western Church, we mark this as the day when the Wise Men finally made their way to Jesus long after his birth (in fact he was probably more of a toddler then a babe in swaddling clothes by the time they got there.) At our Eucharist today, Mo. Laura preached a wonderful sermon about the implications of the Epiphany and reminded me of two things. One, this is the start of the longest seasons of Epiphany that I have ever personally know as a priest. Since Easter is so late this year, we will be celebrating the season of Epiphany for the full nine weeks which is the longest it can possibly be. We will get to use every single one of the Collects for Epiphany this year, which for a liturgical nerd is pretty cool. The second thing that got me thinking in her sermon was her description of the star that lead the Wise Men on their way. She had this very beautiful litany (which looking at her notes after, I realized she produced this extemporaneously—not an easy thing to do!) that described how the star served as a natural expression of the splendor of the Incarnation. She wrote, “The greatness and grandeur of God cloaked in the body of a child. And not just any child—a child born to working class parents who begins life in a stall with the animals…but how wonderful that even in the deepest concealment, his glory cannot be hidden. The cosmos itself point at him, with a finger of starlight, [a finger of nuclear explosion, a finger of a sun.]”

So, all of that is to say that the first new thing that I did today was to celebrate mass at the Feast of the Epiphany. Laura’s sermon made that all the more special and I was reminded of that Wild Star through the whole Eucharist prayer—and truly God was manifest that that holy table. 

The second thing that was new today was another “new-ish priest” thing. I was given a beautiful oil stock (which is a small vessel which fits on the finger of a priest) to use in baptisms, anointing of the sick or those in need of healing by my internship parish, St. Michaels in Naugatuck, CT. However, it has taken me forever to find the perfect insert to place the holy oil on so that it will be absorbed but will remain moist enough to leave oil on my thumb when I make the sign of the cross on people’s foreheads.  I finally found something that worked much better than a cotton-ball (which was going to be my last resort) and I placed the oils which had been blessed by Bishop Paul at our last Chrism mass into the oil stock. It was actually a very powerful exercise and my hands were left anointed with the fragrant oil for the rest of the night. Since this has been a really busy day getting ready for the upcoming retreat, I felt that it had a calming effect on me and was a healing in its own right. A perfect way to remember the God who became like use and shared in our pains and our sufferings but also offered a balm of grace. 

P.S.- It might be a few days before I blog again because of the retreat. But have no fear; I am still trying new things!